Auckland Council has a Youth Advisory Panel, and Aotea-born Taimarino Cleave is part of it.
The Youth Advisory Panel offers advice based on their experiences living as young people aged 14 to 24 years, to help council improve outcomes for this community.
Taimarino is a third-year student doing a double degree in Law and Arts, majoring in Māori Studies and International Politics and Relations, at the University of Auckland.
He says the process of selection for the panel was “like any other job”.
“I sent in an application, and a few days later I heard back and they asked me to proceed to the next round of interviews.
“They asked some pretty difficult questions but it seems I interviewed well and I got the call that I had been successful. I was very happy to be given the job, but also aware of the huge responsibilities that it entails.”
Not the first person from the motu to represent our youth, Taimarino was in fact inspired by a predecessor: “An old friend of mine from primary school, Taric Speir, held a position on the panel before me, so I actually had conversations with him about it.”
The Youth Advisory Panel meets every six weeks to receive updates from council staff.
They are tasked with identifying issues that are important to young people, providing advice on regional strategies and plans, and helping council to effectively engage with young people.
“For example, in our last meeting we were asked for our ideas on how council might increase youth voter turnout for next year’s local elections.”
Taimarino's early years on Aotea have fuelled his commitment to addressing the gap between rural and urban areas. He is also passionate about exploring ways to recognise the contributions of rural communities in wider Auckland, so it makes sense that he has taken on the rural portfolio along with one other panel member.
“It's an amazing opportunity and it’s exciting to see what we can do with it,” says Taimarino. He adds that he thinks it’s important that both him and the other portfolio lead “have lived experience” when it comes to youth living in rural places.
“It’s really important for me that people recognise the Barrier as a suburb of Auckland, because I think there’s a misconception that we’re not, and we kind of seem like a separate entity which is not the case.
“One of my goals is making that well known, and pushing the needs of youth on the Barrier and what they want to see from Auckland Council.”
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